Cylinder liner support with improved cooling



Dec. 2, 1969 G. E. oLsoN ET AL 3,481,316

CYLINDER LINER SUPPORT WITH IMPROVED COOLING Filed Dec. 1, 1967 INVENTORS GEORGE E. OLSON WALTER J. MCCULLA ATTORNEYS United States Patent Office 3,481,316 Patented Dec. 2, 1969 3,481,316 CYLINDER LINER SUPPORT WITH IMPROVED COOLING George E. Olson, Lacon, and Walter J. McCulla, Washington, Ill., assignors to Caterpillar Tractor Co., Peoria, Ill., a corporation of California Filed Dec. 1, 1967, Ser. No. 687,276 Int. Cl. F01p 3/02; F161' 11/04 U.S. Cl. 12S-41.84 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A sleeve in a cylinder block providing support for a cylinder liner `and having apertures therein through which a cooling fluid passes so as to provide cooling throughout the length of the cylinder liner.

Increased engine horse power in recent internal combustion engines have raised the problems of higher cylinder pressures and increased cyclic and assembly loads. In engines utilizing cylinder liners, the increased pressures and loads on the liners have imposed excessive stresses on both the liners and the blocks. This has been especially noticeable in designs in which the cylinder liners are supported by -anges integral therewith which seat in a counterbore of the block. In such cases in order to insure strength of the liner seat, engine coolant is circulated considerably below the liner flange and bypasses areas having high thermal loads from combustion. The excessive therinal loads in these areas contributes to counterbore cracking and carbon buildup resulting in ring sticking and piston deterioration.

In many conventional liners know today, a relatively thick top deck is required to provide space for the liner ange in the supporting counterbore. With the present invention, however, it will be shown that the counterbore is not necessary to support the liner and the deck need only be sufficiently thick to support the head gasket. In this invention, it is proposed to mount the cylinder liner on a resilient sleeve which in turn is mounted in a lower portion of the block in a manner similar to `a bottom supported cylinder liner. Unlike bottom supported liners, however, which are usually mounted to rigid structures, the support sleeve acts as a resilient member which reduces cyclic loads `and which requires less strength in the sleeve supporting member.

Thus the use of the support sleeve eliminates the counter-bore in the upper portion of the block, thereby alleviating the requirement for a thick top deck so that a relatively thin top deck can be used in either a cylinder block design specifically for the sleeve or in a block in which a cracked counterbore has been machined away and a new counterbore machined near the lower end of the liner. This will tend to improve the cooling eiciency of the engine. y

In addition, the liner support sleeve, being exposed to a constant ow of coolant and of relatively thin structure, is not .susceptible to sudden thermal changes. It reduces thermal loading of the liner flange by eicient dissipation of heat through the circulating of engine coolant at a pre- It is also an object of the present invention to provide a cylinder liner support means which obviates the requirement of a thick top deck on the cylinder block.

It is a further object of the instant invention to provide a cylinder liner support which may be used in present engines having cracked cylinder blocks, after suitable repair thereof.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a cylinder liner support which dissipates the thermal load about the support area of the cylinder liner so as to obviate counterbore cracking and carbon buildup.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a cylinder liner support which is of suiicient elasticity so that the cylinder liner 4may follow the cylinder head as it is forced upwardly by combustion pressures, thus reducing cyclic stresses experienced by the engine structure.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a cylinder liner support sleeve which is exposed to .a constant flow of coolant and is of a thin cross section so as not to be susceptible to sudden thermal changes while reducing thermal loading of the liner flange.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a cylinder liner support sleeve which has a straight cylindrical shape, thereby lending itself to the use of a perforated roll plate for manufacture.

vOther objects of the invention will become obvious in reading the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a vertical section of a cylinder employing the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of that portion of FIG. 1 showing the support and cooling provided by the cylinder liner;

FIG. 3 is an alternate embodiment of the support and cooling structure shown in FIG. 2.

Now referring to the drawing in greater detail, there is shown a cylinder block 11 of an internal combustion engine having a cylinder head 13 mounted thereon and a crank case cavity 15. A cylinder liner 17 is fitted within a bore 19 in the block and is supported at a flange 21 thereof by a sleeve 23. The cylinder support sleeve 23 is supported by the cylinder block at a counterbore 25 near the lower end of the cylinder sleeve. A water jacket 27 surrounds the sleeve and liner and a set of seals 29 separates the water jacket from the crankcase cavity. Water from the jacket is prohibited from entering into the interior of the cylinder liner by a combustion seal 31 or into the oil passages and the outside of the block by a gasket 33.

Water in the jacket communicates with the outer wall of liner 17 through passages 35 in sleeve 23 and exits through passages 37 to an opening l39 communicating with a water passage 41 of the cylinder head 13.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, it is possible to provide a cylinder block which also has a thin top deck 51, through which the coolant'may also flow through a passage 53 as well as through opening 39.

Thus it is seen that the applicants have provided a true advancement in the art of supporting and cooling cylinder liners of internal combustion engines.

We claim:

1. In an internal combustion engine, a cylinder block and a cylinder head, a cylinder bore in said block, a counterbore in said bore and a counterbored surface near the lower end of said bore, a cylindrical sleeve abutting said counterbored surface and extending upwardly within said counterbore, a cylinder liner slidingly tted into said bore and extending upwardly therefrom within said sleeve, a flange at the upper end of said liner abutting the upper end of said sleeve whereby said liner is maintained in its axial position in said block by said sleeve and said head, coolant passages between said sleeve and said liner and between said sleeve and said lblock, and a 3 4 coolant passage `between said block and the ange on said FOREIGN PATENTS 1111er- 969,880 7/1958 Germany.

2. The engine of claim 1, and a coolant passage in said llalcctkinagajnl) area of sald flange for dlsslpatlon of AL LAWRENCE SMITH Primary Examiner References Cited 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS 123 193 2,395,766 2/1946 Schreck 123-41.79

U.S. Cl. X.R. 

